Kobe Bryant Bounces Back from Chronic Pain

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant went to Germany for an innovative medical treatment to relieve pain in his right knee and left ankle. Photo by Keith Allison

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant traveled twice to Germany during the off-season for an innovative medical procedure to relieve chronic pain in his right knee and left ankle.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Bryant visited molecular orthopedist Peter Wehling for a new blood treatment. Bryant believes the treatment was successful.

“I feel a lot quicker and able to get to the basket and free throw line,” Bryant told the Times. The 33-year old superstar said Wehling’s treatments would be a “huge plus” for the Lakers.

Dr. Wehling is the founder of the Centre for Molecular Orthopedics in Dusseldorf. He claims to have achieved a 90 percent success rate by genetically screening his patients to personalize their treatment. The gene test he uses is not FDA approved and not available in the U.S.

Wehling’s Regenokine therapy, which he used to treat Bryant, involves removing a small amount of blood from a patient. Natural anti-inflammatory and pain inhibiting proteins are harvested from the blood, processed, and then injected back into the affected part of the body. Wehling calls the proteins the “body’s own medicine” and claims they can “stop inflammation of joints and nerve roots, regenerate joint cartilage and accelerate healing of fractures.”

Bryant visited Wehling last summer to get treatment for his arthritic right knee. Bryant’s knee has troubled him for several years and he’s had three knee surgeries. The Lakers star returned to Dusseldorf in October to get his ankle treated.

Bryant’s knee and ankle may be feeling better, but he tore a ligament in his right wrist just days before the NBA season began.

Wehling recently co-authored a book with Dr. Christian Renna called “The End of Pain.” It calls the Regenokine program a “game changing new treatment” for osteoarthritis and lower back pain. Renna runs a private pain clinic in Los Angeles and refers his patients to Wehling. “We do it at the moment only on low profile and recommendation, and we do not advertise it,” Wehling told ESPN The Magazine.